Nieuws van de afdeling

19 September 2011

Deportation to Angola unjust and inhuman

SP Member of Parliament Sharon Gesthuizen describes herself as ‘dumbstruck’ by the decision of Minister for Immigration and Asylum Gerd Leers to deport a longstanding resident of Limburg in the south-east of the Netherlands. The young Mauro will de deported to Angola, despite a request to the minister, which garnered support from almost the whole range of Parliamentary parties, to allow Mauro to remain in the Netherlands. Supporters of the 18-year old Limburger also organised a special, football-based demonstration on Het Plein, the square in front of the Parliament in The Hague. Gesthuizen wants to arrange an urgent debate with the Minister. ‘Although I disagree with many of the views of this minister,’ she says, ‘I didn’t expect this. It’s a real hammer blow. I find it inhuman and unjust to send this Limburger away to a country where he cannot speak the language and knows no-one.’

16 September 2011

De Jong demands European Parliament enquiry into EU agencies

European agencies are being established in prodigious numbers as a result of collusion between EU member states and the European Commission. Surveillance of the functioning of the agencies and their expenditure is hopelessly inadequate. These are the most important findings of research conducted by Radboud University in Nijmegen on behalf of the SP European Parliament group. Commenting on the findings, SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong says: ‘The research makes it clear that there are serious problems with the functioning of these EU agencies. I want to see a European Parliamentary enquiry this year into the agencies’ effectiveness.’

16 September 2011

‘Americans frustrate privacy protection in the Netherlands’

SP Member of Parliament Ronald van Raak is trying to stop American firms from passing on sensitive data regarding Dutch citizens to the US government. Corporations such as Microsoft and Google are now forced to hand over such data, even if the Netherlands’ authorities object. The information involved concerns such matters as bank account details and other financial data, passenger and journey details, but also telecommunications data. In putting Information and Communications Technology (ICT) projects out to tender, the Dutch authorities should exclude ICT-providers who are under pressure from the US government.

15 September 2011

Soldiers are in danger while politicians in The Hague chatter about a civilian mission

'If it swims like a duck, quacks like a duck and waggles like a duck, then I’d call it a duck. The Minister of Defence must have been thinking this when he spoke to Vrij Nederland.' SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel was referring, during this evening’s parliamentary debate with Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the Minister of Defence himself, to a recent interview given by the said minister, Hans Hillen to a leading Dutch political weekly. In the interview, Hillen said that it was ‘strange that the mission in Kunduz cannot be called a military mission.’

15 September 2011

Dennis de Jong: combatting corruption is combatting the crisis

SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong is urging the establishment of a ‘master plan’ for the fight against corruption in the Eurozone countries experiencing economic difficulties. Annually, €120 billion is lost as a result of corruption. As De Jong says, ´The fight against corruption is a fight against the crisis. More tax income, less working on the black, and putting a stop to bribery are necessary for economic recovery.’

14 September 2011

Van Bommel: ‘Rawagede verdict historic’

SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel describes himself as ‘pleasantly surprised’ by the verdict of the court in The Hague in a case brought under Dutch law by seven widows from the Indonesian village of Rawagede. The court today ruled that the Netherlands is responsible for war crimes committed in 1947 against the male population of the village. Van Bommel, who was in court to hear the ruling, described it as a ‘historic verdict which, for the seven widows, has come not a moment too soon.’

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